The Vegas Golden Knights and St. Louis Blues battled hard but the Knights came out on top.
The Vegas Golden Knights got off to the best possible start by attacking the net early and often. It took 4 minutes before the St. Louis Blues could register a shot on goal but unfortunately, David Perron would get a great pass from Zach Sanford and beat Marc-Andre Fleury for the first goal of the game on the first shot on goal for the Blues.
That goal for the Blues seemed to have changed the momentum and it was the Blues turn to control the game and they pushed for a second goal. With seven minutes left in the first, Vince Dunn got called for hooking, which gave the Vegas Golden Knights their first chance on the powerplay.
They did everything they could on the man advantage, including crashing the net, but Jordan Binnington stood tall in net. He was the main reason they were able to kill the penalty. The Knights continued to attack, but just couldn’t solve the Blues netminder.
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Things started to get a little physical near the end of the period when Nate Schmidt and Troy Brouwer got involved in a scrum and both were sent off for roughing.
Chandler Stephenson had a great chance to tie it up, but couldn’t finish putting the puck past Binnington, as he made a huge save sticking out his pad. At this point in the game, Vegas was outshooting St. Louis 12-4, yet the Blues had the 1-0 lead.
In the second period, the Blues were the faster team out of the gate. Less than three minutes into the period, off a Vegas turnover, Colton Parayko took the puck went in on net a took a great wrist shot that beat Fleury for a 2-0 lead.
The Knights were down early once again and it would take another comeback to win this one. The Blues ended up taking a penalty five minutes into the period when Alexander Steen was sent to the box for holding.
Vegas went to work on the powerplay and managed to cut the deficit to one when Shea Theodore took a great wrist shot that finally beat Binnington. The Blues would challenge the goal for offside but after a lengthy review, the goal was deemed good. They would get penalized on the play for losing the challenge, resulting in a delay of game penalty.
The Knights were back on the powerplay but it didn’t last long as Jonathan Marchessault was called for a vicious cross-check in the crease. It didn’t matter as Alex Tuch a minute later found a loose puck off a Nick Holden shot and put it in the back of the net to tie the game at 2.
The penalties kept coming for the Blues, as Zach Sanford got called for hooking and the Knights had another golden opportunity to get the lead. It happened when Alex Tuch once again got a great pass from Rielly Smith and beat Binnington for a 3-2 lead.
It didn’t take long for the Blues to respond as a minute later Colton Parayko would score his 2nd goal of the game on a beautiful wrap around. Not even 10 seconds later the Blues took the lead back when Troy Brouwer got a great cross-ice feed from Tyler Bozak and beat Fleury for the 4-3 lead. The 2nd period would end on that score and once again Vegas was down going into the 3rd period.
Vegas started the third period on fire throwing everything at the net looking for the equalizer. Three minutes into the period Zach Whitecloud scored his first career playoff goal when he took a great wrist shot that went top shelf to tie the game at four.
Both teams were playing an undisciplined brand of hockey and special teams were proving to be a factor in this one. St. Louis a minute later would take a too many men on the ice penalty and would give Vegas another chance to take another lead.
The Blues would kill it off and then would get another powerplay when Paul Stasny was called for tripping. The Vegas penalty kill was up to the task and the game stay tied. With seven minutes left in the period, Mark Stone would tip a shot from Brendan McNabb to take a 5-4 lead.
Two minutes later, the goals kept coming as Shea Theodore would take a great shot that once again went top shelf on Binnington for a 6-4 lead. A minute later, St. Louis was offered another lifeline when Will Carrier was sent off for slashing.
With two minutes left in the game, the Blues pulled Binnington for a 6 on 4 advantage but the Knights would manage to kill the penalty and win the game. This win means St. Louis can no longer finish as the number one seed and that will be decided in the final game of the round-robin between Vegas and Colorado. That game is scheduled for Saturday, August 8th with a time to be determined.